In general, the optimum effectiveness for most prescribed medicines is achieved by attaining a certain therapeutic range medically determined to be most beneficial to the patient. An excessive level or overdose of medication might be toxic. And underutilization of a medicine might jeopardize the patient's course of treatment and recovery. In the latter case, with less than a therapeutic dose, the patient may endure side effects but have no potential for benefits from the drug due to an insufficient quantity of the medication.
The criticality of a patient's compliance with a prescribed dosage of medication cannot be overstated. Yet, patients frequently forget whether they have taken medication either omitting doses or repeating them.
The problem is accentuated for the elderly who may suffer from several ailments requiring numerous drugs, each having different directions and dosages. Fading memories and confusion often experienced by golden agers compound the problem. In many cases, elderly persons could be independent and self-sufficient, but for their inability to follow a prescribed routine of taking medications.
As the number of elderly people increases and with the use of newer, more potent and sophisticated drugs, the practicality of a timing device for pill or medicine containers is apparent.
Efforts to solve this general problem of non-compliance have resulted in a considerable number of "reminder" caps and pill-timing devices. Compartmentalized containers for holding and providing scheduled dosages of pills have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,327 to Shepherd, U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,221 to Urquhart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,726 to Pendill, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,984 to Romick. The foregoing patents may be perceived as somewhat overly complex by their inclusion of electronic reminder means or mechanical dispensing means. The higher cost of these devices is also a negative factor. Compartmentalized devices represent an alternative, though partial solution to the problem, but the drawback is the requirement for a responsible person with the time and patience to fill the compartments properly.
Several additional patents indicates status of the prior art pertinent to pill bottle timer caps as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,599 to Livingston has a counter means for indicating sequence of covering and uncovering the lid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,127 to Gayle rotates a time dial by relative movement between cover and base. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,829 to Wacksmann has a counting screw cap with lost motion drive. U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,016 to Zoltan uses a separate element or the counter element may be part of the top and sets an alarm, including a time keeping means, which is the key to opening of the cap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,051 to Trick has a series of indicators visible through a viewing window and a locking element operative when the top is rotated in a clockwise direction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,093 represents an improvement on the foregoing patent by O. Lee Trick. U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,189 to Mastman has numerical indicia movable with the cap as the cap rotates relative to the bottle, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,966 to Thackery allows pressing the container top down for activating the indicators and suggests facility of manufacture of the device.
The foregoing patents, however, disclose devices which are integral to the bottle cap itself, whereby the pharmaceutical manufacturer or others who package pharmaceuticals confront the expense for constructing or purchasing bottle caps incorporating the timing features.